Saturday, 5 June 2010

Komeet 81P/Wild

On this night 81P/Wild is best visible between 18:30 and 01:06, with the optimum view at 21:27. Look for it in Virgo, high in the sky in complete darkness. It is easy visually in the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dob. Use the Ultima 42mm for optimum visual detection. It is magnitude 10.5 with a diameter of 1.5'.

In the following 30 days this object is easy visually on June 6-17, with the best view coming on June 6. During this period it will fade by about 1.2 magnitudes and will reach minimum altitude of 11° on June 21.

81P/Wild will next reach perihelion in late July 2016. It is predicted to reach maximum brightness of magnitude 11.3 in mid July. The best visibility from Bloemfontein, South Africa near maximum brightness is predicted to be in mid July when it will be approximately magnitude 11.3. At that time it will be in Leo, low in the northwestern sky during evening twilight and will be detectable in the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dob. The previous perihelion was late February 2010. Note that the magnitude and visibility of a comet can be very unpredictable.